LG’s L-03C is the world’s first true camera phone… or is it a phone camera?

For years, cell phone manufacturers have been trying to cram as many different gadgets into their handsets as possible. It all started with the cell phone camera but these days, you can crack open any smartphone and find half a dozen gadgets inside: from gyroscopes and accelerometers to FM radios and 3G modems. Heck, cell phones these days are actually fairly advanced computers.

As the cell phone continues to swallow all other gadgets up, it’s rather amusing to see the convergence process go the other way… well, at least for one gadget. LG have just announced the L-03C, which may look like a point-and-shoot digicam… but actually has a phone inside.

The L-03C will be sold exclusively in Japan by DoCoMo in January. Inside, you’ll find a 12.1MP sensor supporting a maximum ISO of 3200, as well as a Pentax 3.6-5.5 lens with three degrees of optical zoom. It can also shoot video in 720p, and comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G and GPS.

It’s a weird gadget. Is it a phone that looks like a camera, or a camera that happens to contain the phone? I think the best way to describe the L-03C, though, is that it’s probably the first camera phone that even remotely matches the quality and performance of even the cheapest point-and-shoot compact… and the only way they could manage that was by just making a point-and-shoot compact and cramming a phone inside. I wonder if Nikon will get in on the action next?